Have you noticed the faux charity donation bins popping up on the North Crown Hts sidewalks on your walk to the subways? Well they are really for profit companies. Sanitation explains on their website that, “under Local Law No. 31 of 2007, the placement of publicly accessible collection bins on New York City property or property maintained by New York City, or on any public sidewalk or roadway is illegal,” and concerned residents are invited to submit a form requesting their removal.http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/downloads/pdf/contact/requests/misc_request/DS69.pdf

Hah, I have noticed a couple of these. One under the shuttle tracks on Prospect and one on Sterling and Franklin, SE corner. The pictures on them are perfectly ambiguous. In the meantime, can people use these bins for storing the results of their dogwalking?

I'm mailing it off today. I hope everyone does this to remove these fake "donation" boxes. I always try to donate my clothes and shoes to the Camba Women's shelter in Park Slope. They eagerly accept clothes and it goes directly to the residents.

NY1 did a story about clothing drop bins this week. The story mentioned that even when the Department of Sanitation removes illegally placed bins on public property, there isn't enough to deter the organizations who operate the bins to put them up somewhere else. Maybe someone should have legislation proposed to change that.

One local lawmaker says that New Yorkers trying to donate old items of clothing in some of the large drop-off boxes around the city should think twice, as they could be helping someone pocket some cash.

The bin on the southeast corner of Prospect and Franklin has been given the orange sticker of doom! The process of having the bins removed is quite slow but mailing in those forms really does get a result eventually. I like that even though the form gets sent via snail mail, they do send an email confirmation and give the timeframe for having the bin removed. I forgot to check the bin under the shuttle tracks on Prospect. I sent a form for that one also.. hopefully it will follow suit shortly, if it hasn't already.

After I submitted the paperwork to sanitation they put on the orange stickers. It took about a month for the bin to be removed. One week later.... It's back in the exact same location at grand and prospect. They painted the side with blue paint I assume to hide where the sanitation stickers were. Part of the reason I requested removal is that people leave garbage next to the bin. Argh! This means war!

Based on the article mugofmead linked, I've just done some research and learned that Sanitation can only give the Orange Tag to bins on public property, and that the process works as follows.

1. A Sanitation worker with a car puts an orange tag on them, or writes on them with a grease pen.

2. A few days/weeks later, a different Sanitation worker (one with a truck) comes by and looks for orange tagged bins, and removes them.

However, between 1 and 2, the company often moves the bin to private property and/or removes the tag. The owner of the private property is not asked whether he wants this bin, but they are often too large for them to move onto public property.

Hence, the solution may be to:

A. Verify that a private property owner is not consenting to the bin, and then

B. Move the bin onto public property. One may want it to be slightly in the flow of pedestrian traffic, so that a variety of people will fill regularly fill out the form.

Moving bins that were placed on private property (without the consent of the owner) to public property, does not seem like vandalism.

Depositing recycling in them does not seem like vandalism.

Reporting them to the city seems appropriate.

Calling the owners of the bins (973-732-5460) and telling them that a large number of their bins will soon be moved onto public property and/or tagged because they are already on public property, seems like something they might even be appreciated.

....it seems as if people could do as little, or as much as about this issue as they are comfortable doing.

I am very excited by your ideas Whynot_31! Turn them into recycling bins, what an inspiration. It doesn't seem out of line since they are already posing as something they are not. I was contemplating pouring a gallon can pf paint on one out of frustration.

Since the sidewalk is public property they should not be there, but the difficulty is getting the city agency to respond quickly. however if it were put in the street then it is much easier to have removed. what if only we could just move them onto the street and call sanitation to pick up in dumptruck. No sticker needed.

Yes, moving them as far as a parking spot on the street crossed my mind.

It would take 10 minutes to do, and prompt irritated drivers to informed 311 that it was taking up a parking spot.

Yes, taking up a parking spot on a public street would likely generate a much quicker and affirmative response than inconveniencing pedestrians. The problem with such a plan might be finding a parking spot nearby.

So, I suppose a small team could wander the neighborhood, moving them onto the street when possible, and -when not possible- merely moving them onto public property.

I think it is safe to assume that the bins in front of vacant lots do not have the consent of the property owner. If a bin is in front of a bodega, I'd get permission from the bodega operator of the bodega before proceeding.

This article indicates that in June 2013, the city removed bins in The Bronx neighborhood of Riverdale owned by Viltex, the same company that owns the blue bins that have appeared throughout western Crown Heights:

"Unlike Goodwill and the other traditional charities involved in collection, none of the clothing gathered by USAgain, Planet Aid and other for-profit operators goes to help needy people in the localities where the boxes are placed."

I wonder if appropriating one of these bins would be viewed as theft. I could see repurposing them as a secure storage container, especially with the help of a welder and a torch, both of which I have.

I noticed one with an orange sticker on Prospect Place off of Franklin while I was riding the B48 home tonight. It was laying on its back.

A fence has gone up around the rear part of the laundromat property on Empire Boulevard and McKeever Place. I hope the bin that is there (and the one that is on the property of the future TD Bank down the street) are the next to go.

Does anyone know if the few bins surrounded by a small fence are legal? I think not. the DOT has to give permits for any construction on the sidewalk such as a fence. Most home owners are under the mistaken belief that the area right outside thier house is thier property because the city will fine them for not keeping i clean but in fact it is city land. I am thinking of calling 311 and making a illegal construction complaint about those fences so then the bins can be removed by the sanitation.

Omg!!! Just saw that yet another illegal donation bin has just been placed right back in the exact same spot on the corner of St Johns & Classon, where a bin was just removed by sanitation a week ago. This is ridiculous!! What can we do about this, permanently?? Ugh!!!

I'm even more disgusted now than I was 15 minutes ago...Just called 311 to file a complaint to Sanitation about this bin having "re-appeared" & wanting it removed....Shockingly 311 says they cannot pass the complaint along directly to Sanitation. They need to mail me a form, I need to fill it out & mail it back, then Sanitation decides from there...Blah..blah...And we all turn old and gray looking at these damn things...Ugh!!! Seriously??? Does anyone know a quicker way to get this eyesore removed permanently?

The city does what it can, but (as explained in this thread) its resources are limited, and it has procedural and resource constraints It may need residents to do what it legally can not do:---> Move these bins onto the street, where the city can have an easier time removing them.

....In addition to collecting the contents of the bins, your job is to find locations for the new bins on your truck, and rescue any that are tagged (either by orange sticker or grease pen) by the city for removal.

The firm then paints over the grease pen and/or removes the sticker, ensuring their ongoing productivity.

Now I'm noticing these things everywhere. However, the ones I tend to see coincidentally (or not) seem to be located just beyond the reaches of public domain on private property. Coming back from the post office on Empire this afternoon, I noticed the laundromat at the corner of Empire and Rogers has one. It even has the logo of the laundromat on it. (Why do I suspect that the motivations to have the collection box there are not strictly charitable?)

Wouldn't it be great if legislation were to be proposed to address the issue?

My favored bin (under the shuttle tracks on Prospect) disappeared for a day but now a sibling has taken its place. It is not the exact same bin but a very similar one, and has been placed several feet to the east of where the old one was. There is clearly new paint on the side where it was likely marked for removal previously at a different location..

This company has no qualms about thumbing their nose at the current city laws in place...

Also, I saw one of the blue bins in Williamsburg when I happened to be there yesterday. Maybe looking for some vintage pieces ;)

I wonder if appropriating one of these bins would be viewed as theft. I could see repurposing them as a secure storage container, especially with the help of a welder and a torch, both of which I have.

Eastbloc, if something is left on the sidewalk along the street, then isn't it actually considered trash? So, if that is the case, altering, moving, destroying "trash" wouldn't be considered grafitti, theft, or vandalism, right?

Last night I saw one of these bins at Grand and Prospect that had it's door open. As I walked by, I tried to close the flap however I couldn't because the bin was totally full of donated items. I'm not sure why, but I had figured that these bins were very rarely being used and that the company was just managing to aggregate enough items to scrape a profit. This may not be true..

This is beyond ridiculous! Anyone have a property facing one of these bins? Because if we could set up a camera facing the bin perhaps we could catch the truck delivering them? Maybe that would peek the authorities interest?

They paint over the collection signs and numbers painted on the sign. Perhaps take a pic of 'em to prove they have not moved? the painting, plus new stickers, seems to be their trick.

The bins usually disappear for a few hours/days and then another (similar) bin appears, often with evidence of painting over the sticker/grease paint. So technically, they do move.

So frustrating though... they are being used heavily too. The bin of choice that I watch under the shuttle tracks on Prospect was overflowing the other day and had items and bags scattered all around it.

Believe me...I despise these bins and would like to see them disappear and have called sanitation about them several times. But my fear is that if we seal them closed, folks who have come to leave their "donations" in the bins will of course be unable to open them, and therefore will just dump their bags of stuff on the sidewalk next to the bins, and we'll be stuck with a bigger, unruly mess of piles of clothes and shoes on all of our street corners for days or weeks....Not sure this will serve our purposes and may actually just cause a diffrtent problem. Thoughts? Alternatives?

BryceTCYes it is out of place. The fence is an illusion of permanence THe city does not approve of bolting fences to sidewalk at will without proper permits. Even if the owner believes he/she owns the sidewalk near his house a survey will often show the city owns it and only tolerates fences if requested. This bin should go too. took this picture of a truck unloading from that very bin. Send in another request to Sanitation here;

oh my heavens, these are the WORSt.I wanted to donate but hubby found so called 'american red cross' and looked on their site saw nothing about bins. At benson ave by 25th ave. There are some by 99shops on bath ave by 18thave. A few sitting at parking lot of khols/ceasar bay.

After more research found about Planet Aid that gives $5cents/lbs to Charity and rest pocket in.

These bins as mentioned above are unsigthtly, when they are full they make a mess, and when see mess next you see garbage.

INSTEAD of stickers, the DOS should confiscate, melt the scrap metal. How long will a scam exists if they have to keep making NEW bins?

I also like the other ideas of people placing recycling items and compost, that will make the items unsellable. The transports won't want to touch these things.

Part of the trouble is that the nearest legit thrift stores are the Housing Works and Goodwill, both of a bit of a schlep. Maybe we could find a business owner to host a legit thrift store donation bin on Franklin or Washington?

You are kidding right? Goodwill is on Fulton near Franklin and is not a schlep. Donations should be effortless? It is on the way to subway, etc. Make a trip to Outpost of other Bed Sty watering hole for coffee or a beer and drop off along the way.

Goodwill

The legit charities in the US (such as Goodwill) receive more clothing than they can sell locally. Many of them sell usuable, excess clothing donations to the exporters to be sold overseas, and receive minuscule profits for them. It is expensive to sort, discard and wash all of the clothing received.

So why are there all these bins everywhere?!

Goodwill and Salvation Army survive as a result of subsized labor. Many of the employees are in job training programs, and thus the entities are more dependent upon such contracts and $ donations than the sale of clothing.

On the otherhand, companies like Viltex survive as a result of their massive quantities of scale, and international supply chain linkages.

As a result, many of the reputable non profits are not interested in having addition bins, and find it hard to get upset over companies like Viltex.

To the outsider, it appears as if Viltex directly competes with Goodwill, but in actuality the Venn Diagrams overlap only to a degree.